Fendi Milan Fashion Week Spring Summer 2019

Fendi is one of the houses to flex its visual brand value in a major way over recent seasons, catering to young generations’ thirst for prized possessions like branded bags, trainers and even socks. Logos that used to belong mainly on accessories and the odd T-shirt are now sprinkled over everything from hoodies to skirts by the bucket load, effectively making garments hot commodities on par with leather goods, price tags very much in tow. This season Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi took that development one step further. Instead of letting the clothes inform the bags, they worked the other way around, “looking at things from a different perspective,” as Silvia said.“We wanted to have functional clothing. Not just for occasion. We wanted something for everyday life: the normal woman, the active woman. A real wardrobe,” she explained. Adwoa opened the show in a transparent coat with bonded brown leather panels and pockets, which was literally the garment take on the bag she was holding. Edie modelled a tan leather coat with multi pockets moulded into the leather as if it were a utility bag. And Kendall sported the Gen Z trend for wearing a bum bag over the shoulder, pairing it with an oversized white utility jacket with massive pockets embossed with Fendi’s double-F logo. “It’s very much about real life. As women we have these big bags and you can’t find your phone and it’s ringing,” Silvia illustrated, giving particular attention to all the mobile phone and key sized pockets that appeared on garments, belts and bags. The idea might be universally appealing but the clothes seemed aimed at no one more than the young generations and their love of branded accessories.